Baby Mia's Nursery

I'm totally in love with baby Mia's nursery. I love the modern style.

I love that it's for a little girl and it's not pink.



Can she be any more adorable? Remember Mia's mom Joanne?

Joanne had a brunch at her house and there were 4 little cuties there... but I'll show you that tomorrow.



I have a thing for owls and this one is awesome.



The colors are fresh and clean, the patterns are super cute.

I've also had my eye on those decals forever, you know how I love birch.



Speaking of super cute... meet Samantha!



Her room is so neat and organized and clutter free I feel like cleaning mine now.
The thing about modern rooms is that you need to be able to edit out extras.

I'm horrible at editing. I want to include everything which is why I have a gazillion pictures in a post. Luckily I've learned to go to picnik to make collages.



The fact is that their entire house has the same clean, modern feel. Like being in a spa.

Maybe instead of cleaning and organizing I'll see if I can move in with Joanne and her husband. I'm sure he won't mind.

*I almost forgot to mention that the chair cover was made from some drapes that Joanne bought! She didn't want to use the drapes as drapes but wanted to incorporate the material. I think that's genius and a great way to personalize and make stylish a simple glider.

The very long car ride

taken with my camera phone

Did I mention that the drive to Sacramento last weekend took us 10 hours? Somehow this is the only photo I really have of the drive up. I think I was too busy blowing my nose, sleeping and worrying the Peanut would throw a fit at any given time.

It doesn't normally take 10 hours but with weather, a detour and three 30 minute baby breaks that's what we clocked.



taken in Sacramento

B had to work so he was flying in later to meet us. My parents, the Peanut and I drove with all of our supplies. Packing for kids is crazy.

10 hours and Peanut was a fantastic traveller. About 8 hours in he started to get fussy but who can blame him. My dad just pulled over and we got him out of the car seat for a while.



At the stops we would feed, change and play with him. Once we put him back in the car seat he would play with whoever was sitting next to him. Eventually he would just stare at you, hands wrapped around your fingers and then fall asleep.


On the car ride home

I wish I would have taken a picture of the cab. It was total chaos with pillows and blankets and baby stuff and burp rags and books and a breast pump and a diaper bag and bottles of water...

you get the picture.




Look at those beefy hands.



Anyway, we left with even more stuff then we came with. In addition to the gifts Peanut received at the party (the most spoiled loved child ever) his grandparents and aunt and uncle sent us home with things that were his cousin's.

The entire back of my dad's truck was packed along with all floor space in the cab.

Anyone spy B's care package at the bottom?



There you go... there's the close-up. That's in our fridge right now.

Only B has already eaten the ears.

We have a pig's head with no ears in our refrigerator... don't you?



This has nothing to do with the post.



I just didn't want to leave you with a visual of a pig's head creepily wrapped in plastic.

Only I just reminded you of it.

Hey check out the guns on that guy.

And by guns I mean rolls and creases.

The Hat, Lake Forest

Remember when I used to post about food? Do you remember that?

Well there just aren't enough food posts these days. Mostly you all just want to see the Peanut so I combined the two for your viewing pleasure.

Yesterday B and I headed over to The Hat for a light lunch.



OK, that was just a straight lie. This my friends is one order of chili fries.

The first time we went to The Hat we had no idea that an order of fries was this big and we almost got two.



Whenever you get something with chilli they ask if you would like cheese, tomato and pickles. I don't really get it. B didn't order cheese (how can anyone ever say no to cheese) but the tomatoes and pickles really cut the heaviness of the chilli.

The order is HUGE.

They also serve gravy fries which I love. It's the same amount of fries (easily enough for 4 or 5 people) covered in a thick brown gravy.



Peanut sees our fries and thinks the whole world has gone crazy.

He may be right.



I had their specialty with is the pastrami dip. Love.

To be honest, I had been eating the fries while I was holding Peanut and by the time I passed him to B and started eating this I didn't even make it thru 1/2 my sandwhich.



There are condiments galore. I like to add the creamy horseradish sauce to my pastrami.

Did I mention that the food is cheap? It is and then you take into consideration the amount of food and it's really cheap.

We rounded out our meals with rootbeer and Orange Bang.



Somewhere in here is B's chilli cheese dog.

I know.



I had this guy for dessert.

He sat there grinning at me the entire time I ate and I just couldn't help but gobble him up whole.

Lopsided

If reading about my boobs makes you uncomfortable then I suggest you turn back now. You are about to hear more about them then you ever wanted. Not that you ever really wanted to hear about them at all.

As many of you know I had breast cancer several years ago. As a result I had a lumpectomy in my left breast. The doctors removed a mass that was a little less than 1 inch in diameter. The thing is... when you have size A breasts, well 1 inch makes a difference!

After the lumpectomy I was left with several scars and a breast that was shaped differently. It was as if they made an incision, removed the tissue and then just pulled the bottom up to meet the top. My nipples point in different directions now. I mean, I'm not complaining. I'll be honest and say it doesn't bother me in the least.

It's just that if you were looking at me.. naked (this post is getting weirder by the minute) then one nipple would point at you and the other would be pointing up and over your right shoulder.

The right nipple all normal and the left nipple all like, Hey, what's that over there?! I suppose now my nipples are more representative of my personality. Mismatched and all split personality. Perhaps all nipples should be representative of their owner's personalities? Some should be bold and big and others small and meek.

During the pregnancy my left remained unchanged as my right grew and grew and stretched and stretched and mocked the left one relentlessly. I'm talking about the nipple here, not the breast. Sadly my breasts did not grow during my pregnancy.... just my nipple. I'll take a moment while you wrap your mind around that.

At about 5 months it started leaking giving me hope that my milk would indeed come in, at least on my right side. Having received 35 rounds of radiation on the left I didn't have high hopes of getting milk on that side.

When my milk finally did come in (on the right side only) I began to witness the growing of a breast. It was magical really. It was like watching a science experiment with the right experimental breast growing and the left control breast staying the same. I had a brief glimpse of what it would be like to fill out shirts and have curves in a dress.

Only I was completely lopsided. You see, even though my nipples are wonky noone can see. This growing of one breast was different. Some of you totally know what I mean when I talk about the difference in size. Can you imagine it? In the end I had to stuff the left cup with a crazy amount of nursing pads and try to make sure I didn't look lumpy or disfigured.... or that a pad didn't dislodge itself and work it's way up my top.

That would be embarasssing. I know this because once when I was in college (back when I still wanted to pretend I had breasts) I had put push-up pads in my bra. At the end of the night, after a few cocktails at my college boyfriend's fraternity house, I went home to find that I only had the pad in one side of my bra. All I could do was wonder how many people throughout the night saw that pad works it's way up and out of my top. Hey, is that a bra pad hanging out of Dawn's shirt? Hey what's that on the floor? Oh that's the pad from that lame girl who tried to stuff her bra.

One can only hope that when all this is over the right one will sag causing my breasts to make a sort of disco point. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, stayin' alive.

One can only hope...

Storytime with Alex

I have lots to catch you up on from this weekend. We had an amazing time! I had planned on blogging during our stay but my memory card wasn't compatable with the computer for some reason.

The weekend was full of hustle and bustle and friends and family and loads of laughter. Despite all that one of my favorite moments was a very quiet one this morning.



During a discussion of all the things big cousin Alex would teach Peanut, we started talking about Alex's favorite books.

Alex brought out two of them and we all sat down while he read them to his little cousin.



Alex did a great job with big words and different tones. He paused in between pages and made sure to hold the book so Peanut could see.

Alex did such a good job that Peanut sat there looking at the books and listening to his much older and wiser cousin.

Thank you Alex! Next time we'll read some more books!

Travelin'

Today my parents, Peanut and I are heading to Sacramento to see B's family. B had to work and will be flying in to meet us tonight. This weekend will be full of family, fun, lots of food and some Chinese tradition. I'll share it all with you, of course.

Can I just say that packing up for 4 nights away from the apartment was totally insane? It seems odd to put a question mark there as it's really a statement.

Between my mom and I, we pretty much packed up an entire nursery. If we do happen to get stuck on the Grapevine (a stretch of the 5 freeway) I could probably set up and provide full-time daycare. Everything is loaded into the back of the my dad's Tundra.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Spreading germs

My baby has his first cold. It started last week with the runny, stuffy nose and then continued with the cough and fever. We took him to the doctor just in case and found he has fluid in his ears. It's not an infection but the doctor gave us drops for pain.

I woke up feeling generally icky and B isn't feeling to hot either. Something to do with Peanut not listening to me when I tell him to cover his mouth.

Is there anything more pathetic than a baby who can't breathe thru his nose? He has such a hard time drinking his bottle. I'm in pain just listening to his cough.

I think he is feeling better and I have to say for the most part he is still a happy, smiley baby. He even lets me suction his nose without putting up a fight.

Of course, I spend most my time hovering over him with tissues and ear drops and whatnot.

Poor kid, I don't know what is worse for him... having a cold or having me for a mother. :P

Happy Valentine's Day

There are all kinds of love.

Sometimes love is cuddly.


pic taken by pic taken by Adrienne Gunde'>Adrienne Gunde

Sometimes it's full of romance.



Sometimes love hurts.

Or it's just very squishy.


pic taken by pic taken by Adrienne Gunde'>Adrienne Gunde

Sometimes love is unconditional.



And sometimes it's just all very rock 'n roll.

Whatever kind of love you're celebrating today...

I hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day!!

some random babbling

I have a random assortment of pictures to go along with the random thoughts in my head. Or vice versa.

That little foot was so sweet and darling. It's growing bigger and clammy-er (clammier?) by the day.



I saw this window display during the holiday season and snapped a few pictures for design inspiration.

I absolutely love the fabric leaves- just think of the possibilities. I also love the framed sky hanging behind. What a perfect idea for an apartment when you can't paint the walls or for a room divider. It would be great double sided with a different view on the other side.



I'm going to admit that when I saw this the first thing that popped into my head was nursery. Nursery for a future daughter perhaps?

Not that I'm pregnant. I'm just sayin'. Natural and whimsical is such a pretty combination.



This picture has B written all over it. First off, that is B's chair that never, ever goes with the decor, and has been around since before I was born, but just keeps rooting itself in our apartment.

The thing is it is incredibly comfortable. Only I could sit in it at the end of my pregnancy. I learned the hard way that I couldn't get out of it as I had to tip it over sideways and crawl out.

Secondly, only daddy would plop a baby in a chair that way. Just wad 'em up and throw 'em in!



Speaking of daddy's doing weird things. This is my dad carrying Gingerbread to her bath. Look at her with those pleading eyes.

That concludes my random thoughts for today.

Big Flat Head

My baby has a big noggin. A big noggin just like his daddy and my daddy too.

A noggin in the 75th percentile. He's a big boy in general with his weight in the 75 percentile and his height (which was in the 100%) was in the 95 percentile at his 2 month check up.



Unfortunately his poor head has taken on an interesting shape.



It's growing increasingly flat in the back. Poor thing.

I'm starting to obsess over it.

I'd like to point this out to the people that say we hold the baby too much and ask how his head got so flat :)



We've been doing lots and lots of tummy time and he doesn't seem to mind it.

He still seems to favor one side when he is on his back but not as much as before. He always sleeps with his head facing the same direction and no matter how many times I turn it he will turn it right back.



I'm not sure what else to do at this point but we have his 4 month check up on the 28th.

Until then I'll see if there is anything else on the internet I haven't read about it :)

My little man, your head may be big but it's still awfully cute!

Farmgirl Paints Thrive Project: Simplicity

Linking in to Farmgirl Paints Thrive Project here! Becky is taking a photography class and has been so kind as to share her information with all of us.



This weeks topic is simplicity. The focus is on keeping the picture simple and direct without background clutter.

I didn't have time to take new pictures but I found these and thought they fit the assignment.



If you'd like to learn or link up head on over to Becky's blog!

Again with the laughing

I know I just posted a video of Peanut laughing but I had to add this one.

Right before this video he was crying. I pulled out my camera to take his picture and as soon as he saw it he stopped crying.

The ham.

After that he got the giggles and I took this video. I cannot get enough of his laugh and his best squeaky toy impersonation.

When life gives you lemons...

Give 'em a try,



take a moment and see how you feel about them



and if you don't like them...



stab them with your fork.



I didn't mean to take the little blogging break but my parents computer broke and I lent them mine. I'm not very good with B's computer.

Last week I spent some time with friends.


Remember Brighton? He is getting so big!



A ball of energy. It was like a glimpse of my future watching him run around.



Peanut is still at the stage where I can put him to sleep next to me on the banquet at the restaurant. He just slept with his little legs on mine while we ate.



After playing and dinner we headed to Frostings for cupcakes.

We had the strawberry, chocolate and my new favorite...

Cookies and Cream with an entire oreo inside. It was soft and completely delicious.

Babies and cupcakes. Perfect.